Horwath Admits to Major Math Mistake

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Despite originally defending their platform through a campaign spokesperson, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has been forced to admit that her numbers are built on a major math mistake. Instead of adding a $700 million reserve to their deficit they subtracted it, creating a $1.4 billion-dollar hole in each year of their plan.

“It was a mistake. It was a mistake. We missed it… it was just a straight-up mistake.” (Horwath, Ottawa Citizen, May 20, 2018)

To put it in perspective, this $1.4 billion mistake is the equivalent of the combined operating budgets of Sick Kids and Mount Sinai hospitals every year.

Kevin Page, who the NDP hired to validate their numbers, confirmed the error yesterday in the Ottawa Citizen, “It is a mistake […] Looks like a spreadsheet type of error. If they wanted to eliminate the reserve, they should have left it at zero — not subtract $700 million per year.” (Ottawa Citizen, May 19, 2018)

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The NDP insist they’re ready to form a government but for the last week they’ve had a tough time explaining how their plans will actually help people in Ontario. What you see is not what you’ll get with the NDP. They can’t tell middle class families how much parents will have to budget for their child care plan, they’re ready to slap an average 28% property tax hike on small businesses and their scheme to regulate gas prices has been proven to actually drive up the price at the pump.

Now the NDP is admitting they’ve made a $7 billion dollar mistake in their platform – an error that will lead straight to higher taxes and lower job growth. What’s next? It’s clear the NDP are not ready to take on Doug Ford, keep our economy strong and deliver for families.